flyby apple snail and kite!

Here's a beautiful mature male snail kite (without bands) returning to the nesting area with a freshly plucked apple snail to eat. This was taken from a boat and HH, I like the POV and the framing of the bird just before the water vegetation. Snail kites forage only on apple snails and have many to choose from in addition to their native Florida apple snail. There is an invasive population of four non-indigenous apple snails that are quickly overpopulating and causing damage to wetlands bc they are devouring the vegetation in critical wetlands leaving an imbalance of plant life necessary for other species... This above snail is an invasive specie as it does not have a flat top. The apple snails lay their eggs on any hard surface above the waterline. Often you will see a beautiful mass of pink eggs attached to a stalk above the water. I have photographed the eggs in the past and have not yet seen the distinctive native apple snail egg mass. Native Florida apple snail eggs are the size of a pea and light pink to white compared to exotic eggs that are the size of a pin head, pink, and many more thousands in an egg clutch. Lastly, the invasive apple snails are reaching sexual maturity in 2-3 months and natives some 6 months. There is adaptation and overpopulation leaving the native to most likely be displaced and more crop damage by the invasives to alter aquatic ecosystems... Grrrrrhh

1Dx
840mm
HH
ISO 2000
6.3
1/3200

the kite looks good, and especially the big snail is a great part of the story and adds a lot here.... as a flight shot, a few things are holding this one back: the bird had already passed you a bit and the far wing position is less than ideal, a few frames before this would have been great. I can live with the shoreline intersecting with kite but there is just too much distraction in the FG for me. the image is too contrasty perhaps from too much highlight shadow correction and the sun angle which was less than ideal. The bird and BG show some noise and the whites near the tail look a bit hot. You might want to try cloning out the big OOF leaf that is most distracting

TFS

Not sure what I like better, the informative write up or the image. That view of the underside, HA and snail all work for me. Ditto on too much contrast and the blowout at base of tail, but I love every bit of the environment, showing the hunting grounds of this beauty. You handled the harsh light well. TFS

I like it. Looks like it is barely holding on that snail. Those red eyes are great on this species.

Great intense stare and action, but I agree with Arash on the distracting foliage elements. The wing position took me a second to sort out. If you cover the feet with your hands and look just at the wings, this almost looks like a topside shot. Lucky to get one without a band!

Good critique by Arash. A cloudy-bright day would have made things much more palatable for me.

with love from Ushuaia,

artie